We Spied the 2020 Chevy Corvette C8 Convertible, Revealing New Details

From Car and Driver

• We spied a prototype of the upcoming convertible version of the new C8 Corvette when leaving this years Concours d'Elegance of America.

• The convertible will have a power-folding hardtop roof, setting it apart from the standard coupe that has a manually removable targa roof.

• Expect the convertible to debut within the next few months.

As we were leaving the 2019 Concours d'Elegance of America this past weekend, we spotted a swarm of people surrounding a car in the parking lot. It was a new 2020 Chevy Corvette C8, but unlike the two C8s that Chevy had on display at the Concours, this one had a camouflage wrap covering up the roof and the rear end. Upon a bit of closer inspection, we realized that the parked prototype is the upcoming convertible variant that has yet to be officially revealed.

How do we know it's the convertible given the camo over the rear end, you ask? Well, we can see the same flat vented decklid, sharply edged flying buttresses, and different rear cutlines as the Corvette convertible that Chevy teased at the reveal of the C8 (which is shown below). Getting up close to this prototype also revealed a retractable, upright rear window between the buttresses that looks to be heated.

This is also the first time we have seen the C8 convertible with the top in place, as Chevy's teasers only showed it with the top down. It will be a folding hardtop in the vein of other mid-engined supercars like the Ferrari 488 and the McLaren 720S. The hardtop seems to be a two-piece unit that will surely be powered, although we couldn't spot a button or switch in the interior that controls it. The top will likely fold into the space between the rear seats and the engine.

Given how close to production this prototype looked (and the fact that Chevy has already basically shown us the car), we expect the C8 convertible to debut by the end of the year. Expect to pay a premium of around $5000 over the standard C8 coupe, which itself has a manually removable targa roof that stows in the frunk.

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